The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 58

Mind Control – 14

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The piercing ring of an alarm clock shattered Gu Yanta's sweet dream. Damn, I was dreaming about a honeymoon trip with Lu Xiaozheng, what a mood killer!

Annoyed, Gu Yanta rubbed his eyes and reluctantly got up. As soon as he pushed open the bedroom door, he heard the front door click open, and a tall, slender figure slipped inside.

Lu Zheng, carrying breakfast in one hand, glanced at Gu Yanta's dishevelled appearance, then placed the breakfast on the dining table, sat down, and started eating without a word.

Gu Yanta rushed into the bathroom, hurriedly freshened up, and by the time he reached the table, Lu Zheng was just taking a slow sip of soy milk and biting into a bun.

"That fast?" Lu Zheng swallowed his mouthful of bun and asked, "Did you even brush your teeth?"

"Of course!" Gu Yanta leaned in. "Don't believe me? Try for yourself."

"Get lost..." Seeing Gu Yanta inching closer, Lu Zheng quickly turned his face away. "Stop messing around!"

"Fine." Gu Yanta picked up his share of breakfast, eating as he mumbled, "I just had a great dream!"

"What was it about?"

"I dreamt we went on a honeymoon. Can't remember where exactly, but I do remember my suitcase got lost at the airport. My English is terrible, and you were scowling while arguing with the airport staff in English to help me find it."

"How do you know my English is good?"

"You're a top student!" Gu Yanta said it like it was a matter of fact.

"Actually..." Lu Zheng's lips curled into a barely noticeable smile. "My English isn't that great either."

"Huh?" Gu Yanta was shocked. "There's actually something you're not good at?"

"There are plenty of things I'm not good at..." Lu Zheng paused. "Like cooking, English, and... hmm... how should I put it? Flirting? But I'm learning from you."

"Lu Xiaozheng!" Gu Yanta huffed. "So in your eyes, my sweet words are just flirting?"

"More or less..."

Gu Yanta was so exasperated he laughed. He was just about to retort when his phone rang again, it was Chen Chen. The technological team might have made a new discovery.

"Let's go!" Lu Zheng stood up.

Gu Yanta followed him closely out the door.

City bureau.

"Boss!" Chen Chen hurriedly shoved his laptop over, nearly smacking Gu Yanta in the face with the screen. "Look at this!"

"Li Qing's medical records?" Gu Yanta scanned through them carefully, his expression shifting.

Now that all the major hospitals were networked, patient records were meticulously logged on the system.

"Zheng Yandong and Li Qing both lied!" Gu Yanta stated.

"What?" Lu Zheng also leaned in. After reading the records, he frowned as well.

"Zheng Yandong and Li Qing both stated in their testimonies that they had a doctor-patient relationship, that Li Qing, suffering from depression due to life pressures, sought treatment and got to know Zheng Yandong then," Gu Yanta said. "But there's no such record in Li Qing's medical history."

"In other words, Li Qing never had depression and never received treatment from Zheng Yandong! They deliberately concealed how they actually met, but why?" Chen Chen asked, puzzled.

"There's something suspicious about how they got to know each other." Gu Yanta was certain. "It's possible that a key person has been left out of the story."

"I don't get it..." Chen Chen was puzzled. "Isn't Zheng Yandong supposed to be a computer expert? Why didn't he just alter the medical records?"

"He did it on purpose," Lu Zheng said.

"Huh?" Chen Chen still didn't understand.

"In his testimony, Zheng Yandong shifted all the blame onto Li Qing. Yesterday, we analysed that he was most likely being threatened by someone behind the scenes, which is why he didn't dare to tell the truth. This person, or these people, probably have leverage over him, something other than his father," Lu Zheng continued. "But at the same time, he doesn't want to be controlled. He doesn't want these people to get away with it, so he deliberately pointed the finger at Li Qing and left behind this discrepancy, hoping that through Li Qing's testimony, the real mastermind would be exposed."

"Where is Li Qing's son now?!" Gu Yanta suddenly exclaimed. "Li Qing's arrest hasn't been made public yet, so they might not know about it. We need to ensure his son's safety immediately! Ma Qin!"

"Here! Boss!"

"Secure both of Li Qing's sons right away!"

"Yes!"

"Consultant Lu and I are heading to interrogate Li Qing now!"

Interrogation room

Li Qing looked just as dejected as he had the day before. After everything that had happened yesterday, he had clearly been up all night, dark circles were visibly etched under his eyes.

"Officer, have you finished investigating?" Li Qing asked weakly. "Can you prove my innocence now? My sons are waiting for me at home."

"Your sons are safe, the police have placed them under protection," Gu Yanta said firmly.

Li Qing flinched slightly, then lowered his head again.

"So now, you can speak freely without any worries," Lu Zheng said in a calm tone. "How did you really meet Zheng Yandong?"

Li Qing was silent for a long time. It was clear that he was wrestling with an intense internal struggle. After a while, he suddenly spoke. "I'll talk! I'll talk! As long as you can guarantee my son's safety! I won't hold anything back!"

"Don't worry!" Gu Yanta tapped his phone and played a video that Ma Qin had just sent over. In the footage, Li Qing's two sons were now under the care of the police, his younger son had a dedicated caretaker, and his elder son had been temporarily withdrawn from school.

After watching, Li Qing nodded, his eyes glistening with tears. "Alright, I believe you! Please believe me too! I never coerced Zheng Yandong! I never killed anyone!"

Gu Yanta and Lu Zheng both nodded in unison.

Li Qing finally revealed the missing details, it turns out this matter involved Li Qing's brother-in-law.

Li Qing's brother-in-law, Dong Peng, had been a delinquent since childhood, never interested in studying or working, giving a headache to his family. When Li Qing's wife was still alive, she had worried endlessly about her younger brother, but no matter how much the family tried to guide him, Dong Peng continued to loiter around aimlessly.

A couple of years ago, Dong Peng suddenly announced to his family that he was working as a right-hand man for a highly influential boss. No one in his family took it seriously, given his history of drifting from one shady crowd to another.

But to everyone's surprise, Dong Peng actually started making money, he even bought himself a car. When he returned home for the New Year, he was incredibly generous with relatives and friends. Seeing his transformation, many praised him, saying that a prodigal son turning over a new leaf was priceless, some even looked at him with envy.

Li Qing, however, remained indifferent to all of this. The only thing he was relieved about was that Dong Peng no longer came asking his sister for money. Li Qing's own financial situation was manageable, but he had struggled with Dong Peng frequently showing up to leech off them.

Later, Li Qing's wife died in a car accident. Before the compensation had even been settled, his twin sons fell ill. Faced with such overwhelming hardship, Li Qing had nowhere to turn. Then he remembered his brother-in-law, who had seemingly turned his life around, and reached out to Dong Peng for help.

Upon hearing about his nephews' illnesses, Dong Peng immediately patted his chest and swore that, as family, he would do whatever it took to repay his sister. He assured Li Qing that as long as he could come up with the money, his sons' lives would be saved. Li Qing was endlessly grateful to him. Later, Dong Peng introduced him to Zheng Yandong, which led to the events Li Qing had confessed to the previous day.

"Why did Dong Peng introduce Zheng Yandong to you?" Gu Yanta was a little puzzled. "Wouldn't it have been safer for him to contact you directly?"

"My sons' illness required a matching donor, and that had to be handled by a professional doctor," Li Qing explained truthfully. "I don't know what issues arose between them. I initially thought they were in this together, but Zheng Yandong and Dong Peng seemed wary of each other. That wasn't my concern, though, my only priority was gathering money to save my sons' lives. As long as they fulfilled their end of the deal, that was all that mattered to me!"

"You didn't mention Dong Peng yesterday, were you afraid of retaliation?"

"Yes," Li Qing nodded. "Although I've never had contact with anyone apart from Dong Peng and Zheng Yandong, think about it, what kind of normal person would be involved in this kind of business? I've seen what they're capable of, and I'm terrified... Zheng Yandong may have been caught, but Dong Peng and the rest of them are still out there, living freely. They're all desperate criminals, I couldn't risk my sons' safety! So I wanted to put everything on Zheng Yandong, but I never expected that he... he would accuse me first?"

"So where is Dong Peng now? Have you been in contact with him?"

"No. After my younger son's surgery in June, I gave Dong Peng the last payment, and we lost contact. I didn't want to reach out, and I didn't dare to, either. I wish he would disappear from my life forever!" Li Qing's tone was filled with despair. A man driven to the edge by life now appeared utterly powerless. "Officer, this is all I know. If I've broken any laws, I'm willing to accept the consequences. But my two sons are innocent, please, I beg you to keep them safe!"

"We will," Gu Yanta assured him solemnly.

As the two of them left the interrogation room, a heavy weight pressed on their hearts. Both Li Qing and Zheng Yandong had their own helpless circumstances, yet the true culprits were still at large, continuing their illegal dealings, destroying innocent lives for enormous profits.

Dong Peng was merely a small, insignificant pawn among them, yet even he had managed to turn his life around and become a so-called "successful man" in the eyes of others. What about the true masterminds behind all this? They were capable of such monstrous acts, exploiting and threatening doctors, harvesting illegal human organs, and selling them at exorbitant prices to desperate families, this was a business with infinite profits and no costs! It was almost impossible to believe that human beings could commit such atrocities.

Because Zheng Yandong was a doctor, he had access to a large pool of patients, and his expertise in computers allowed him to launder the sources of these organs safely. That was why they had set their sights on him. Even now, he remained under their control, too afraid to resist or speak out. He had fled to his hometown in a desperate attempt to escape, yet even after his arrest, he was still obeying their orders.

And even after Zheng Yandong disappeared for several months, Dong Peng was still able to continue supplying organs for Li Qing's younger son. This meant that there had to be other doctors, either coerced or bribed, who were still helping them! Zheng Yandong wasn't the first. And he wouldn't be the last.

"Dong Peng must be caught!" Gu Yanta said with hatred. "Even if I have to make him suffer, we need to force him to give up the mastermind behind all this!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: February 13, 2025 by Angel

Edited: February 25, 2025 by Angel